10 Days Remaining in My Summer! – Wolfram Alpha

I have heard of this site before, but really did not have any ideas about how to use it. After attending workshop with Jim Gates, he shared some fun ideas for any classroom. WA is a mix of search engine and computation. If you wanted to know how much caffeine was in tea the search would respond with a page full of information about general tea for 12 ounces, how it is compared to other foods, and minerals that might be found in tea. Change it to green tea and see the difference. Look up the calories in a candy bar, then compare two different candy bars and you will see nutritional information about each one.

It is a wealth of information right at your fingertips and is FREE. Yes you can get much the same information on Google or Bing, but WA provides more information that you didn’t ask for, but applies to your search. To get a better idea, visit this page: ww.wolframalpha.com/examples and see some samples of searches. Find something you can use to kick off a lesson or end a lesson. Give your students some bizarre fact that can be memorable. Here are some categories that Wolfram Alpha offers some data: